a year of laughter, lessons, and life experiences through the simple ABCs

Tag Archives: Ashleigh

Let me preface this post by announcing in a loud and clear voice that I am not a girl who likes to go clubbing. Strobe lights, expensive drinks,grinding, blech, totally not for me. I’m what you might call an introvert. Clubbing is not for introverts.

The goal of my.alphabet.year, though, is for me to step out of my comfort zone a little, to live life and see and do things I wouldn’t normally do. So while I didn’t exactly go clubbing, I did step out and shake my groove thing a little.

For starters, I decided to amo up before I went out for a night of dinner, dancing and fun. Put on my slutty heels, got my hair did, wore make up (gasp). Really trying to make the effort to do this right. I also brought Ashleigh, one of my best friends and most extroverted person I know. She could make cats become social animals. If anyone can help me find my social, dancing side, it’s Ashleigh.

So we went out to Jergels, in Wexford, for an interesting night. Let me preface this trip by saying that Jergels is a hodgepodge of clubbing rejects who all come together within 4 walls to try to feel relevant again. Ashleigh, who had never been there before, asked what the theme/mood of the place was. My response: Uhhh….a little country, a little biker bar, a little high class wannabe. After seeing the place for herself, she had to agre.

That’s not to say we didn’t have fun. We had a blast. A 70s cover band called Dancing Queen was there, and they were surprisingly good. Surprisingly loud, but surprisingly good. (Another reason why I will never get into clubbing: they play the music WAY too loud. Why must it be so loud you can’t talk to anyone else? Isn’t this supposed to be a social event? Aren’t we supposed to be able to verbally communicate with our friends? I swear, I felt like an 80 year old wishing I had ear plugs, noise-cancelling headphones, SOMETHING to help with the ridiculous volume they blasted the music at.

Easily the best part of the night, though, was the audience. A large group of people were there celebrating a birthday/bachelorette combo, and they decided to hit the dance floor looking like Kelso, Jackie, and Eric Foreman. And one disturbingly accurate Hyde. I’m not sure if the band knew what to do with them, as they crowded the dance floor and started a conga line. I mean, does Prince music really inspire a conga line? Anyone…anyone?

Our favorite was a couple in their late 50s, we’ll call them Bob and Suze. Now remember, these folks are older than my parents, and hanging out at Jergels on a Friday night. So you can already imagine where this is going. But Bob and Suze, in their late 50s, were there to par-tay, and party they did. They were all over each other. Imagine a middle school could that has just discovered they own a set of finely-tuned hormones. Groping, kissing, canoodling. If the dance floor was a little less crowded I cringe to think about what they might have done with the space and the opportunity. They were not dancing, or really enjoying the music, they were totally just into each other. Which, I guess is fine, glad Bob still digs Suze after being married for 30 years. The problem was all of this was displayed for us about 6 feet away from where we are. I could have reached out and touched Bob as he was all up on Suze. Suze might have killed me if I touched her man, but the possibility was there if I wanted to take it. Don’t worry, I didn’t.

In the end, Jergels wasn’t the kind of clubbing experience you’d expect a girl in her mid-20s to attend with 5 of her closest friends on a Friday night. Not even close. But I guess my.alphabet.year is about stepping outside the normal bounds of social, even in our own unique way. So I went dancing with a 70s cover band. With the gang from That 70s Show. Where I watched people who could be my parents get hot and heavy with each other. Definitely not your typical “night at the club”. But in its own way, it was the perfect night for all of us. Kicking it old school.

I’ll be back later this week with some updates. I’m about to go bake some pumpkin cupcakes with dolche de lache to top it off. Yummmmmmmmy. 🙂 Thank goodness fall is here, I love fall flavors.

So one of my closest college friends is coming out this weekend, and I’m supa excited! You know those friends you have who know all your deepest darkest secrets and still love you anyway? For example:

They know you don’t like snakes.

They know you once stole grapes from Giant Eagle (true story).

They know you once tricked a kid in second grade into eating a crayon because you were bored.

They know you read People magazine in the long lines at the supermarket and then put it back without buying it.

They know you steal extra mints from Chik-fil-A because they’re little drops of heaven and the Chik-fil-A workers are so nice they can’t say no to your over-demanding minty needs.

I have several friends like that, all of whom I love dearly, but Ashleigh is the only one who lives far away from me now. Boo.

She’s coming into town for our friend’s bridal shower, and I couldn’t be more excited. I haven’t seen her in over a year. So we’ll spend the weekend with friends catching up, watching old reruns of Friends as we chow down on awful junk food neither of our butts need. Open invite, if you want to hang out Friday-Monday just let me know. We gonna be chillin’ like villians. Oh yeah, and planning her wedding.

And you know what the best part is? No Initech for 4 straight days!!!

I’m so happy I have so many best friends in my life. 🙂 Happy thoughts to all of you.